This January, in Boston, NEFAC's US section continued our progress toward our own reformation. We enacted a constitution and a new internal structure that were developed over the spring and summer of 2008. We dedicated time to analyze the situation we face, in which the capitalist class faces difficulty in propping up its rotting order, and proves itself willing to stretch and to take risks to do so. Most of the working class in the US remains on the defensive, but many in the social movements are also discovering openings to move things forward. NEFAC-US members compared our local experiences and discussed strategies to advance our socialist and libertarian vision in the context of this crisis. After a long period of introversion and local focus, we see these as important steps toward building a fresh, publicly active, class-struggle anarchist group rooted primarily in the northeastern United States.

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NEFAC-New England is proud to announce the first edition of our new regional bulletin, 'Freedom.' This issue features an opinion piece about the current economic crisis, and shines a light on some inspiring local struggles that set an example of how we can fight back against the attempts by the rich and powerful to put the burden of their failures on working class and oppressed people. With 'Freedom,' we hope to spread the word about grassroots struggles going on in New England, while offering an anarchist communist perspective from the street level. Enjoy.

Read the paper online here: Freedom/Libertad No. 1

Public statement on the recent Pittsburgh police killings by the Greater Pittsburgh Anarchist Collective - gpacATTACK.org

Much has been said of the recent shootings in Pittsburgh involving a supposed white supremacist that resulted in the deaths of 3 police officers. We would like to provide information on the ideology of Richard Poplawski and his friends and to also express our anger at the hypocrisy of the media regarding the recent events.

The Boston Anti-Racist Coalition excited to hear that the April 11th event scheduled to be at the South Boston VFW has officially been canceled. We want to thank all the individuals,groups and media who have put a spotlight on this despicable event that was to be held in our backyards. This sends a clear message to all hate groups, racists and bigots that Boston is not a welcome venue for such events and will never be so.

Everyone who called the VFW, the media and who spread the word of this event should be very proud. They should take great pride in the fact that these racist speakers, bands and their supporters will always have to walk on egg shells and face the very real prospect of their events being exposed to the general public, wherever and whenever they rear their ugly heads. We have pushed them further out into the fringe and the irrelevant and will continue to do so until they are no more.

By Sean West (NEFAC-Philly) and Scott Pinkelman (Budget Crunchers)

It would be an understatement to call the recent struggle against Mayor Michael Nutter’s proposed service cuts anything but amazing. Under the banner called the Coalition for Essential Services, a movement of neighborhood groups, most of the cities major unions, health care activists, students, clergy, block captains, seniors and many more essentially put such a fire under our Mayor’s rear that he was forced to abandon many of his plans to balance the budget by cutting services to working people and poor neighborhoods. After witnessing many lively protests of The Coalition to Save the Libraries such as the “People’s Indictment of Mayor Nutter” and a “People’s Contempt of Court Citation”, it was surreal to see the movement’s slogans co-opted by Nutter as he announced his FY 2010 budget on March 19th in City Hall chambers as “The People’s Budget.”

by Alex (Balt-Wash NEFAC), Photos by Isis

Day laborers and supporters pressure DC City Council to stop wage theft, establish worker's center

On March 19th, a group of about twenty DC day laborers and supporters filed into DC City Hall to testify at the City Council's performance and budget oversight hearing over the Department of Employment Services, and demand accountability from the DOES's Office of Wage and Hour, which has a dismal record on fighting wage theft suffered by day laborers and the homeless in DC. They also were there to push for the City Council's assistance in building a Worker's Center in Ward 5 to further confront worker's abuses.

By Deric Shannon (Hartford NEFAC)

The Colibri (a jewelry company in Providence) workers were laid off with no notice. No severance, no insurance, no nothing. They showed up for work and the doors were locked. Some of the folks I talked to there said they had been working for Colibri for over 20 years. Now they're all out of a job. Today, the company was auctioning itself off (in an extra-disgusting twist, they were auctioning off jewelry made BY THE WORKERS) and promising money from the auction to the banks. Nothing was promised to the workers and it looks like the company is just going to ignore them and stiff them (ain't capitalism just lovely?).

The workers and their supporters went down to the court-ordered auction!

Video from Rhode Islands Future

(Read more for additional commentary from Deric.)

by Harry S.

Over 250 people gathered for a rally outside of the University of Vermont's Davis Center, where inside regional politicians and healthcare lobbyists met for the Obama administration's regional healthcare reform forum. The forum was hosted by Governors Douglas of Vermont and Patrick of Massachusetts. The message from the 250+ demonstrators outside was clear: A single payer universal healthcare system is the only solution to the current healthcare crisis.

March 17, 2009

by Michelle (NEFAC-Western Mass.)

February 27, 2009

Today, I woke up at 4 am. Knocked on my roommates door to wake him up also and stuffed some snacks in my bag for the long day ahead of me. Our ride showed up at 4:30, and we were on our way to UMass Amherst to catch one of the two school buses to Dartmouth. We were on our way to try to persuade the UMass Board of Trustees to table the vote to increase our fees by $1,500 next year.

Recently there has been a lot of talk connecting the specific conditions at the New School with the general conditions of society-at-large. You may have heard the material and intellectual concerns of students couched in a radical critique of capitalism, injustice and hierarchical power. On the surface, this may seem abstract and out of touch with the everyday life of students at the university. It may appear as an attempt to shoehorn unrelated “activism” into an otherwise simple administrative matter. However, when we delve below the surface appearance of everyday life, it becomes clear that a generalized critique of society based on the twin logics of capitalist accumulation and hierarchical domination has everything to do with our struggle to redefine our school. The following is an attempt to communicate this relation between the general and particular and to reach out to those students who may feel distanced from last semester’s occupation.